Less than 100 days before the International Olympic Committee’s vote, which will designate the host city for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games on September 13 in Lima, the Paris 2024 Committee presented, for the first time since the institution’s creation in 1952, its Olympic bid, its project, and its vision before the European Parliament.
Present in Brussels, Paris 2024 co-chair Bernard Lapasset and the new Minister of Sports, Laura Flessel, described the Paris 2024 project to the European Parliament’s “Sports” intergroup.
“The Paris 2024 project extends far beyond France. I am proud of the enthusiasm it generates among our European neighbors, as evidenced by the European Union’s Council of Sports Ministers on May 23, and as demonstrated today by the European deputies. This mobilization makes Paris 2024 ‘a unifying project of the values that unite us as Europeans,’” explained the minister.
Discovery backs Paris
A great asset for Paris 2024. The American group Discovery Communications, owner of Eurosport channels and holder of the Games’ rights in Europe until 2024, has shown its support for the French bid.
David Zaslav, its president and CEO, explained in a statement: “We are very pleased to support Paris’s bid and its ambition to bring the Games back to Europe in 2024.”
The American group’s position appears very logical. It still needs to find buyers for the 2024 Games rights in several European countries, including France. Organizing the event in Paris would significantly increase the value of the rights.
